About

$18,543

pledged of $18,000 goal

81

backers

Hello! I'm Michael Ellis Taylor, a writer and web developer. I founded a creative web development agency called 28concepts, and I've written articles and essays on topics like relationships and writing itself. My articles have appeared both online and in print, in places like Tempo Magazine and Version Magazine.

For the last four years, I've spent my nights and weekends working on a novel. The manuscript has undergone several revisions already, and I recently finished a new draft based on feedback from a few beta readers. Now I'm raising money to hire a professional editor and publish the book in a range of formats.

Synopsis

Whatever May Come starts with their summers as kids on Martha’s Vineyard, an exclusive resort island. A tragedy alters the course of their lives, and over the years, they all try to make sense of the new world they find themselves living in.

It’s a story about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale that revolves around not just parents and children but brothers, friends, and lovers, we explore the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most.

Length and Sample Pages

The current draft is approximately 310 pages. You can read an unedited sample of the first chapter here.

Where the Funds Will Go

Your backing helps me do two things: it helps me make the book better, and it helps me get the book into the hands of the right readers. I don't have the resources of a big publisher, but that's not a bad thing. It just means that the constraints are in different places, and it'll take some ingenuity and a startup-like mentality on my part. It also means your support is crucial to making Whatever May Come a success.

extra copies in case of "breakage" (those that get lost in the mail, etc.)

extra review copies

I'll be detailing the entire process via backer-only updates along the way.

Why I'm Printing a Physical Book

I buy physical books. I buy e-books. Both have their advantages, but I still prefer a physical book for the stories I cherish. These are the books I find myself reading over and over again. These books have hard covers but they are also soft and yielding—they are forgiving to our different ways of highlighting and annotating. They can be dog-eared or marked up and still work when you drop them. They may not have search boxes, but their contents are forever discoverable, especially when you're not sure what exactly it is you're trying to find. Also, they never run out of batteries.

My goal for this project is to tell a story worth cherishing, complete with a souvenir appropriate for the experience.

--

Video credits: the background music is "Lattice" by Darren Harper. Everything was rendered in Adobe After Effects.Featured on Kicking it Forward.

Risks and challenges

Delays with the printing. The hardback books will be published through LightningSource.com. LightningSource states that it takes five days to ship an order, but without actually having a final number of copies that they will be printing for my order, I can't get an estimate on shipping. I have built in a large amount of time to allow for delivery to me by LightningSource and then from me to you. If I am able to get them out earlier than February 2015, you can be assured that I will. All electronic benefits (e-books and digital art work) will not delayed by printing times.